They Got Into Law School

Now they’ll help others with similar backgrounds do the same.

The program is seeking an inaugural class of 20 first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minority fellows with an interest in law school.

Forman’s four research assistants (RA) are first-generation YLS students whose unique first-hand experiences have helped the program be developed for underrepresented groups.

The program will offer three parts. The first, a series of 18 ​“Saturday Academies” to begin in October to April and will touch on topics like how to succeed in law school and wellness coaching to confront and overcome structurally biased injustices in the legal profession. The second part will focus on preparation for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). The third part will provide mentorship and personal assistance with choosing and applying to law schools.

Since starting in April, the four research assistants, Elsa Mota, Shariful Khan, Daria Rose, and Paula Garcia-Salazar, have helped to create the program website and design the fellow application. They will help pick the fellows.

As not so cookie-cutter law students themselves, the RAs aimed to design an inclusive application that doesn’t rely exclusively on essays and/or GPA or standardized test requirements.

Forman decided he would begin developing the program last fall while giving a talk at California State University Dominguez Hills about a Pulitzer Prize-winning book he authored.

After the talk, a student started a conversation with him about study habits in law school. Forman was surprised to learn from the student that she was homeless and that she was constantly struggling to get her school work done because of it. After connecting the student with help, he was reminded that ​“you don’t know what people’s obstacles are,” he said. ​“While I teach at a place that is privileged, the city and people around it struggle with a lack of resources.”

As his four assistants know from firsthand experience.

From A Car To Yale

Elsa Mota, for instance, grew up moving back and forth from Miami to her family’s home country, the Dominican Republic. In 2001 Mota moved back to Florida with her family. While she was in high school, Mota’s family struggled financially. She had to quickly learn to advocate for herself after being left to figure out her own living situation alone.

As a senior in high school, she was without a home for some time. She lived in her car and then rented a room in a friend’s home while balancing work, advanced placement courses, and extracurriculars all in hopes of demonstrating her eligibility for a full-ride scholarship to college.

Mota’s goal has always been to be a lawyer. While a junior at the University of Florida Mota took part in a pre-law program at The University of Iowa which helped her to find her way to YLS.

After graduation, Mota will work at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York with an interest in working with discriminatory policing and racial injustice cases.

Learning The System

Before attending Yale University, Shariful Khan, who is from Queens, attended public school in New York.

“The resources weren’t really there for students like me to succeed,” he said.

Khan, a first-generation Bengali American college student, grew up with many family members who had bad experiences with the legal system. Khan headed down a career path to ​“bridge the gap between communities like my own with difficult relationships with the law,” he said.

As an undergraduate, Khan familiarized himself with local housing and civil courts as part of a pipeline-to-law school program at The City College of New York, similar to the Law School Access Program he is now a part of piloting.

Khan was not always sure he could make it to law school: ​“No one looked at us as kids and said, ​‘They’re going to Yale Law School.’”

Khan applied for the research assistant position for the program to help New Haveners get access to law school resources and mentorship. ​“I’m over this huge disparity between my elite peers and people who grew up like me,” he said. ​“Those of us who don’t come from elite backgrounds deserve to be invested in too.”

“It won’t work if we just toss money at the students,” he said of the program. He intends to use his experience to suggest the LSAT preparation companies the program or the students should use.

Cost Consciousness

Daria Rose, a native of the south shore of Long Island, had been determined to attend YLS since 2015, when she was accepted to all seven of the undergraduate Ivy League schools she applied to. This was not long after her home was destroyed in a fire during Hurricane Sandy.

While Rose attended Harvard for her undergrad and prepared for law school, she learned about how the cost can deter potential applicants.

During the last two weeks of her senior year, Rose held office hours in the dining hall to help low income, first-generation students, and students of color learn how to apply for law school.

“Diversity of thought in the field of law is necessary,” she said.

Rose is a part of the YLS’s Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.

“This program will be a part of making Yale and New Haven one,” she said.

Making Opportunities

Paula Garcia-Salazar originally hails from Ecuador. She moved to northern Virginia in 2001 and attended public school. It wasn’t until high school that she found out she was undocumented.

When it came to applying for college, Garcia-Salazar learned that her immigration status limited the amount of financial aid she could receive. Although she was accepted to New York University, she could not afford to attend the institution. She instead attended the City University of New York (CUNY).

“I didn’t even know how to frame myself as somebody who deserved an opportunity,” she recalled.

In her sophomore year, Garcia-Salazar decided to pursue her interest in social justice and political science. After being a student of the Skadden Arps Honors Program in Legal Studies at City College of New York, Garcia-Salazar decided to take four years off after getting her undergraduate degree to better figure out how to afford law school.

“Success stories aren’t always linear,” she said.

Garcia-Salazar looked into being an immigration lawyer but decided she instead wants to pursue criminal justice reform.

Garcia-Salazar has since joined YLS’s First Generation Professionals group and intends to be the co-president next year. Her interest in being a research assistant stemmed from her concern about the lack of diversity in the legal profession.

To assist the program in the fall, Forman will teach a course called ​“Access to Law School” with ten students.

During planning meetings for the program, Garcia-Salazar heavily advocated for allowing fellows beyond the college realm. ​“I feel I can bring a genuine perspective to those pivoting from other careers, especially,” she said.